Going green : the effect of sustainable investments on venture capital fund performance

Through its innovative power, venture capital can become a cornerstone in the battle against climate change if sustainable investments allow venture capital funds to fulfill their fiduciary duty. Prior research has shown that purely sustainability-oriented funds sacrifice financial for social returns and that sustainable companies usually do not fit the requirements of venture capitalists. However, little attention has been given to the impact of sustainable investment on mainstream venture capital performance. To fill this gap, this study aims at measuring and explaining the effect of sustainable investments on mainstream venture capital funds. Therefore, venture capital fund performance, measured as exit percentages, was regressed on sustainable investments, measured through clean technology investments. Thisrelationship was also tested for mediation. Furthermore, a set of probit regressions measured the impact of sustainability on company survival to another funding round. Analyses of these relationships demonstrated that sustainable investments negatively impact fund performance and that investment opportunities mediate this effect. Additionally, the analyses demonstrate that sustainable companies are more likely to receive follow-up funding than non-sustainable companies. These results indicate a negative impact of sustainable investments on mainstream venture capital performance and that this effect is not caused by adverse company characteristics but by a higher valuation paid for attractive, sustainable companies. Hence, it is recommended that mainstream venture capitalists invest in suitable sustainable companies but only if valuations are favorable. Further research still needs to analyze the effect of a recent sustainability investment wave on venture capital performance.O capital de risco pode tornar-se fundamental no combate às alterações climáticas se os investimentos sustentáveis não prejudicarem a performance do capital de risco. Estudos revelam que os fundos focados exclusivamente em sustentabilidade sacrificam o retorno financeiro pelo social, e que empresas sustentáveis não se adequam às exigências dos investidores de capital de risco. Ainda assim, pouca importância tem sido dada ao impacto de investimentos sustentáveis no desempenho do capital de risco convencional. Portanto, várias regressões OLS regrediram o desempenho dos fundos de capital de risco em investimentos sustentáveis tendo por base o desempenho do fundo ao nível das taxas de saída e dos investimentos sustentáveis em tecnologias limpas. Regressões OLS adicionais verificaram a relação para mediação. Além disso, um conjunto de regressões probit mediu o impacto da sustentabilidade na sobrevivência da empresa para outra ronda de financiamento. Análise dessas relações demonstrou que os investimentos sustentáveis têm um impacto negativo no 2 desempenho e que as oportunidades de investimento medeiam esse efeito. Mais, empresas sustentáveis têm mais probabilidades de receber financiamento depois de terem recebido o seu primeiro investimento. Os resultados indicam um impacto negativo dos investimentos sustentáveis no desempenho do capital de risco, não causado por características desfavoráveis das empresas, mas por uma avaliação mais elevada paga na compra de empresas sustentáveis. Dado isto, recomenda-se que capitalistas de risco invistam em empresas sustentáveis em caso de avaliações favoráveis. É necessária mais pesquisa para analisar o efeito da recente onda de investimento na sustentabilidade no desempenho do capital de risco

On the Benefit of Larynx-Microphone Field Recordings for the Documentation and Analysis of Polyphonic Vocal Music

In a previous study Scherbaum et al. (2015) have demonstrated that recordings of body vibrations during singing contain all the essential information of a singer ́s voice regarding pitch, intonation, and voice intensity, but are practically unaffected by the voices of other singers (except for extreme situations). This allows the recording of the contribution of each singer while they are singing together. Because of these characteristics, Scherbaum et al. (2015) proposed the utilization of body vibrations recorded as an additional source of information for the documentation and analysis of traditional polyphonic vocal music. Questions remained, however, regarding the applicability of this approach under field recording conditions and if it indeed provides useful information not obtainable by other means. These questions were at the focus of an exploratory field trip to Upper Svaneti/Georgia during the summer of 2015. Here I report on selected results of the analysis of recordings (larynx microphone and audio) of 20 Svan songs sung by two different trios in Lakhushdi and Ushguli in Svaneti/Georgia recorded during this pilot stud

Identifying Faking on Forced-Choice Personality Items Using Mouse Tracking

This research utilizes mouse tracking as a potential behavioral method to examine cognitive processes underlying faking on forced-choice personality inventories. Mouse tracking is a method from social categorization research that captures a variety of metrics related to motor movements, which are linked to cognitive processing. To explore the utility of this method, we examined differences in the mouse tracking metrics of those instructed to respond honestly or to fake. Our findings show that there is a distinguishable difference in the behavioral response of those who are faking when responding to pairs of personality descriptors presented in a forced-choice format compared to those who are responding honestly. Implications and contributions of this study include insights into the cognitive processing that can occur while responding to personality items when respondents are faking and a demonstration of how mouse tracking methods can be used to detect faking

Determination of islet cell antibodies using an ELISA system with a preparation of rat insulinoma (RIN A2) cells

An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was established for the detection of islet cell antibodies in human sera. The antigen was prepared from rat insulinoma (RIN A2) cells. Cells were dissociated in lysis buffer and the lysate was centrifuged at 100,000 x g. The supernatant was used to coat microtiter ELISA plates (10 micrograms protein/ml in PBS pH 7.2). Non-specific binding sites on the plates were blocked with 2% PBS-BSA. Human test sera were preabsorbed on separate plates using 2% PBS-BSA and incubated on precoated plates at an optimal dilution of 1/10 in 60 mM PBS for 60 min at 37 degrees C. Phosphatase-labeled anti-human IgG serum and phosphatase substrate were applied and the reaction was stopped by adding 3 M NaOH. Out of 90 sera from type I diabetic patients, 47 (52.2%) reacted in the new ELISA whereas none of 15 type II diabetics, 50 sera containing non-islet specific antibodies or 100 normal controls were positive. In the same group of patients, ICA were positive in 63.3%. When both, the ELISA and conventional ICA testing were applied, the number of positives was increased to 83%. The ICA-ELISA with the above described antigen preparation provides a well standardized and reproducible test method which is highly specific for type I diabetes. It may therefore be useful for large screening procedures

Cytoplasmic islet cell antibodies recognize distinct islet antigens in IDDM but not in stiff man syndrome

Cytoplasmic islet cell antibodies are well-established predictive markers of IDDM. Although target molecules of ICA have been suggested to be gangliosides, human monoclonal ICA of the immunoglobulin G class (MICA 1-6) produced from a patient with newly diagnosed IDDM recognized glutamate decarboxylase as a target antigen. Here we analyzed the possible heterogeneity of target antigens of ICA by subtracting the GAD-specific ICA staining from total ICA staining of sera. This was achieved 1) by preabsorption of ICA+ sera with recombinant GAD65 and/or GAD67 expressed in a baculovirus system and 2) by ICA analysis of sera on mouse pancreas, as GAD antibodies do not stain mouse islets in the immunofluorescence test. We show that 24 of 25 sera from newly diagnosed patients with IDDM recognize islet antigens besides GAD. In contrast, GAD was the only islet antigen recognized by ICA from 7 sera from patients with stiff man syndrome. Two of these sera, however, recognized antigens besides GAD in Purkinje cells. In patients with IDDM, non-GAD ICA were diverse. One group, found in 64% of the sera, stained human and mouse islets, whereas the other group of non-GAD ICA was human specific. Therefore, mouse islets distinguish two groups of non-GAD ICA and lack additional target epitopes of ICA besides GAD. Longitudinal analysis of 6 sera from nondiabetic ICA+ individuals revealed that mouse-reactive ICA may appear closer to clinical onset of IDDM in some individuals

Application of Single-Station Sigma and Site-Response Characterization in a Probabilistic Seismic-Hazard Analysis for a New Nuclear Site

Aleatory variability in ground-motion prediction, represented by the standard deviation (sigma) of a ground-motion prediction equation, exerts a very strong influence on the results of probabilistic seismic-hazard analysis (PSHA). This is especially so at the low annual exceedance frequencies considered for nuclear facilities; in these cases, even small reductions in sigma can have a marked effect on the hazard estimates. Proper separation and quantification of aleatory variability and epistemic uncertainty can lead to defensible reductions in sigma. One such approach is the single-station sigma concept, which removes that part of sigma corresponding to repeatable site-specific effects. However, the site-to-site component must then be constrained by site-specific measurements or else modeled as epistemic uncertainty and incorporated into the modeling of site effects. The practical application of the single-station sigma concept, including the characterization of the dynamic properties of the site and the incorporation of site-response effects into the hazard calculations, is illustrated for a PSHA conducted at a rock site under consideration for the potential construction of a nuclear power plant.Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineerin

Ground-motion prediction equations for southern Spain and southern Norway obtained using the composite model perspective

In this paper, two sets of earthquake ground-motion relations to estimate peak ground and response spectral acceleration are developed for sites in southern Spain and in southern Norway using a recently published composite approach. For this purpose seven empirical ground-motion relations developed from recorded strong-motion data from different parts of the world were employed. The different relations were first adjusted based on a number of transformations to convert the differing choices of independent parameters to a single one. After these transformations, which include the scatter introduced, were performed, the equations were modified to account for differences between the host and the target regions using the stochastic method to compute the host-to-target conversion factors. Finally functions were fitted to the derived ground-motion estimates to obtain sets of seven individual equations for use in probabilistic seismic hazard assessment for southern Spain and southern Norway. The relations are compared with local ones published for the two regions. The composite methodology calls for the setting up of independent logic trees for the median values and for the sigma values, in order to properly separate epistemic and aleatory uncertainties after the corrections and the conversions

A Graph-Theoretical Approach to the Harmonic Analysis of Georgian Vocal Polyphonic Music

The present paper proposes a computational approach to the comparative analysis and visualization of the harmonic structure of three-voiced vocal music. The dataset which has been used in this study is the same as in Scherbaum et al. (2015), a corpus of polyphonic songs from Svaneti (Akhobadze, 1957). Similar to the earlier work, a song is treated as a discrete temporal process in which harmonic or melodic states change according to unknown rules which are implicitely contained in the song itself. In contrast to the prior study, however, there are no assumptions regarding their probabilistic or deterministic nature